Man Utd's priority in the transfer window was as much offloading players as it was signing them, with all but one of Ruben Amorim's 'bomb squad' having now left
For Manchester United, the summer transfer window was as much about clearing the decks as strengthening Ruben Amorim’s squad.
After the arrivals of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, United’s focus shifted to offloading Amorim’s ‘bomb squad’, those players he had exiled and whose futures lay away from Old Trafford . Namely, Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho, Antony and Tyrell Malacia.
While United have made significant financial savings by jettisoning four of those five - Malacia still remains - in terms of wages and also recouped money in transfer and loan fees, they have taken a major hit on Antony, who cost £86milion but who joined Real Betis for just £21.5m.
First out of the door was Rashford, who fell out of favour with Amorim a month into the Portuguese head coach’s arrival and who spent the second half of last season on loan at Aston Villa.
The England striker, included in Thomas Tuchel’s latest squad, has gone on a season-long loan to Barcelona, who are covering all of Rashford’s £325,000-a-week wages, an impressive piece of negotiation from United to ensure full coverage of his exorbitant salary.
Under the terms of the deal, Barca have the option of signing 27-year-old Rashford on a permanent basis for £30m at the end of the loan agreement, a fee which would represent pure profit on the balance sheet in complying with Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) because of his status as an academy graduate.
The same is also true of Garnacho, who also fell foul of Amorim, after publicly criticising the United manager for dropping him for the 1-0 Europa Leage final defeat to Tottenham in Bilbao on May 21.
From that moment on, Garnacho had no future at United, and was left off United’s pre-season tour of the USA, along with the other members of the bomb squad, and told to find a new club.
While there was interest from a host of European clubs, including Napoli and Villa, Garnacho set his heart on a move to Chelsea, with United eventually agreeing a £40m permanent deal for the Argentina star, negotiating Chelsea up from their initial offer of £25m and again securing pure profit against the balance sheet because of his academy product status.
Garnacho, who cost a nominal fee when he arrived from Atletico Madrid, became United’s biggest academy sale, his acrimonious departure ending his short-lived spell at Old Trafford and what at one stage promised to be a long and illustrious career at the Theatre of Dreams.
Antony, arguably the most costly flop in United’s history, represented the biggest hit they took in the window, although the only grace was accepting a lower fee to ensure they did not have to pay the Brazilian winger a severance payment as part of his early departure.
Sancho’s deadline day season-long loan move to Villa represented another nomadic chapter in the outcast’s wretched United career. Villa agreed to cover 80 per cent or Sancho’s £300,000-a-week wages and, with the completion of certain performance related clauses, United expect full coverage of his salary.
That leaves full-back Malacia as the only member of the bomb squad to remain at United, although he can still secure a move - loan or permanent - to a league where the window remains open.
United achieved most of their objectives with regard to the bomb squad, in terms of players sold and loaned out, as well as wage recovery. While Rashford and Garnacho came through the club's academy, Antony, Sancho and Malacia were signed for a combined £173m before wages are taken into account.
Club sources say they maintained financial discipline in terms of the fees paid, and with regard to PSR compliance. Offloading the bomb squad continued United’s squad evolution, which was always going to take more than one window.
With fewer fixtures in the absence of European football this season, Amorim always had to work with a smaller squad. Now he has the players in that he wanted and has got rid of those who were not part of his plans, there can be no excuses